Phil and Maude’s Friday Feature: Gail Brenner

We are excited to be announcing a new offering from PhilandMaude.com.

Occasionally on Fridays we will be either sharing guest blogs or featuring authors and speakers who work in the field of peaceful relationships.

This week we’d like to feature Dr. Gail Brenner, a licensed Ph.D. psychologist with over 20 years of experience offering psychotherapy. In her work as a therapist, she “invites people to return to their essential wholeness, to shed false identities and realize the truth of who they are. Problems are seen as opportunities; the illusion of the separate self as a doorway to enduring happiness.”

We first encountered Gail when we were looking for links for our Wednesday blog on the Successful Relationships Reading Corner, and came across a wonderful article called The Secret to Peaceful Relationships which led us to look into Gail‘s other work. She blogs for many sites including her own and has been featured on Huffington Post, Zen Habits, MindBodyGreen, Tiny Buddha, Inspire Me Today, and the Undivided Journal, to mention a few.

Imagine our surprise when we noticed that she also lives in Santa Barbara. This led to our getting together and we were even further impressed when meeting and speaking with Gail. She is a warm-hearted and caring person with much to contribute to spreading peace in people’s lives.

Gail has recently brought out her third book “At the Core of Every Heart: Reflections, Insights, and Practices for Waking Up and Living Free”, available on Amazon.

This book is structured as 52 essays, woven around the themes of being present and paying attention to your body, your feelings and your reactions. You need to have started on the path of self-awareness and growth to understand and make use of this book, but as long as you have had a glimpse of what Dr. Brenner is writing about, these essays will be invaluable. Each essay concludes with a practice, and although you could tear through the book in an evening, it calls to be read slowly and considered. The author does not say so, but the count of 52 essays hints that you could savor each one a week at a time. You would be a very different person at the end of that year if you did so.

Gail also offers a series of guided meditations in audio format, which are available on her website. “These meditations are for you whenever you’re lost—in your mind, in stories, in agitating emotions. You’ll be guided to get out of your head and into the peace of this loving present moment.”

We highly recommend checking out Gail’s blog and all her offerings. She is another peace worker who is helping spread peace one relationship at a time.

Tell your friends!